Top Ten Tuesday: Recent Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

We have seriously been sucking at Top Ten Tuesday lately. It seems like every other week we are diverging from the given topic because we are too lame cool to stick with it! In reality, we just can't come up with enough books for the topic to justify the list of the week, so we decided we would do the most recent books we have bought lately! 

I am even lamer than lame, as when Mariela said she wanted to do the most recent books she has bought for this week, I couldn't even come up with anything I had bought that wasn't at least from 3 or 4 months ago. Which, for me, is pretty shocking. So instead, I decided to bug my brother (who is a pretty awesome photographer, check him out!) to take pictures of all of the books I got for my birthday last week. 

I am a seriously lucky gal, as I have a lot of really, really amazing people in my life who are generous enough to send me books for my birthday. I am happy to share my birthday book haul with all of you :) 

 My brother (the photog), bought me Ready Player One and Armada by Ernest Cline. They are both pretty nerdy sounding, which is absolutely up my alley!

Mariela, my lovely blogmate, got me A Darker Shade of Magic and Lailah, and This Savage Song came in the Owl Crate that she got me. My dear friend Betsy got me My Lady Jane and my friends Anny and Alice, two adorable sisters, got me Gifted. 

 

I mentioned to Mariela in passing that I wanted Master of Crows, and she was awesome enough to buy me a copy. My wonderful friend Nina got me Reclaimed, and Anny and Alice sent me The Affiliate. That's my pup, Bellatrix, not really wanting to sit still in the background. 

 

My brother, avid Harry Potter fan, also got me the new Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Super stoked to read it!

 

My mom got me Daring in a Blue Dress this past weekend while I was down visiting, not really for my birthday but I couldn't help but add it in. Mariela got my What Waits in the Woods, Nina got me Heroine Complex and Anny and Alice got my The Awakened and Broken Fate.

Seriously, I am pretty lucky to have so many amazing friends and family members who fuel my book hoarding habits :) 

Exiled exorcist Lucian Negru deserted his lover in Hell in exchange for saving his sister Catarina's soul, but Catarina doesn't want salvation. She wants Lucian to help her fulfill her dark covenant with the Fallen Angels by using his power to open the Hell Gates. Catarina intends to lead the Fallen's hordes out of Hell and into the parallel dimension of Woerld, Heaven's frontline of defense between Earth and Hell. When Lucian refuses to help his sister, she imprisons and cripples him, but Lucian learns that Rachael, the lover he betrayed and abandoned in Hell, is dying from a demonic possession. Determined to rescue Rachael from the demon he unleashed on her soul, Lucian flees his sister, but Catarina's wrath isn't so easy to escape!

 

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. 

Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?

Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back. 

Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

 

After spending most of his life in captivity, Sarmin now sits upon the Throne of Cerana. But his reign is an uneasy one. And the emperor’s own heart is torn between two very different women: Mesema, a Windreader princess, and Grada, a lowborn untouchable with whom Sarmin shares a unique bond. In times past, a royal assassin known as the Emperor’s Knife served to defend the throne from menace, but the last Knife has perished and his successor has yet to be named. Sarmin must choose his own loyal death-dealer . . . but upon whom can be he bestow the burden of the Knife-Sworn?

 

Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything changes when she is awarded a prestigious internship at a posh Chicago hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous strangers: the powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit. 

As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

Kell is one of the last Antari, a rare magician who can travel between parallel worlds: hopping from Grey London — dirty, boring, lacking magic, and ruled by mad King George — to Red London — where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire — to White London — ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne, where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back — and back, but never Black London, because traveling to Black London is forbidden and no one speaks of it now.

Officially, Kell is the personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see, and it is this dangerous hobby that sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to take her with him for her proper adventure.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save both his London and the others, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive — a feat trickier than they hoped.